New (dominant?) hub of the world economy, enormous pool of users, consumers, and travelers, competitor and ally: there is much discussion about the dynamics of the Chinese economy in Italy, almost always from a B2C perspective.
But the Asian giant also represents a huge opportunity for Made in Italy companies operating in B2B: the productive, relational, and innovative potential in the business-to-business field is largely unexplored, with a market value estimated to reach 2.7 trillion dollars by 2025, thanks in part to Beijing’s incentives, which should favor B2B collaborations between local and foreign companies, and the adherence to the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, to strengthen international cooperation in the field of digital commerce.
For Italian B2B companies looking at China with interest, it’s time to define the ideal strategy to present themselves in the best way, consolidate their reputation, and propose themselves as a value-added partner.
A marketing strategy to conquer the B2B market in China
Thinking and implementing a marketing strategy for the Chinese B2B market means first of all considering a multichannel approach, integrating online and offline and respecting some technical and bureaucratic requirements useful to favor visibility and business-to-business relations under the shadow of the Great Wall.
The Chinese B2B market is indeed advanced from the point of view of digitalization and innovation, so much so that business-to-business online sales in 2023 were worth 1.26 trillion dollars, but are expected to grow at an annual rate of 16% between 2024 and 2030. How to be ready in this favorable situation?
The website node for B2B in China
Trivial, obvious yet essential for the success of any digital business strategy in China: anyone who wants to approach the local market must rely on a website in the local language, which understands and respects both Chinese culture and the strict technical-bureaucratic regulations that govern the internet in the region.
What to pay attention to, especially? The language, first of all: often a simple translation is not enough, but the entire content needs to be revised to allow it to work best from a communicative point of view and make the site findable by Chinese internet users on Baidu, the main local search engine. Secondly, the portal must comply with the rules set by the Great Chinese Firewall: this means that, to be accessible and perform best, the site must have a .cn domain, purchasable only by companies based in China and comply with ICP regulations.
WeChat Business, the essential platform
The most widespread app in China, WeChat, is perhaps the most important digital tool for those aiming to secure a place in the Chinese B2B market.
Among the many useful features, there is instant messaging for customer service, with the possibility to integrate business emails; various communication and advertising opportunities (from actual posts to influencer marketing actions, from support mini-sites to the institutional portal to direct online orders).
The most interesting aspect of WeChat is the Official Accounts, which summarize for a company the website, a social network, and through the integration of Wecom, can become a true SCRM functional to the complete management of the customer journey: from the first contact to conversion, up to their loyalty and ticketing management.
It is impossible to think of a B2B marketing strategy without WeChat, with its ability to attract new users, nurture existing relationships and contacts, organize online activities.
Baidu and search engine marketing in China
How does Google work in China? It doesn’t work (or rather, it is accessible only via VPN), because the search engine used by over 60% of local internet users is Baidu: to drive traffic to your B2B site and make it work best, you need to optimize it according to Baidu’s rules:
- Hosting must be in China
- The domain must be Chinese
- The text must be 100% in Chinese
- The characters must be simplified
Therefore, SEO activities for China require specific skills and dedicated personnel, to be truly effective and useful for the new business strategy.
Brand awareness and KOL for B2B in China
And influencer marketing? In China, it is preferred to talk about KOL – Key Opinion Leaders, that is, the well-known faces on the internet capable of strengthening brand visibility and pushing and attracting new useful contacts.
These are strategic figures also for B2B marketing: industry experts, technicians recognized for their skill, academics, high-ranking representatives of the industrial world can be valuable brand ambassadors and improve corporate reputation.
To support brand awareness, you can also leverage Weibo, a social network halfway between X and Facebook that allows not only to publish original content (especially videos and images) and promote them with targeted advertising campaigns.
Events and fairs, a necessary network
From the digital world to the physical one: the website, WeChat, and Baidu are perfect hubs for conveying brand identity, finding interesting contacts, and providing services, but fairs and events allow face-to-face meetings with potential partners, essential for weaving personal relationships at the base of solid B2B partnerships.
The resumption of post-pandemic activities and the particular Chinese culture, very much tied to the relational, empathetic, and face-to-face meetings aspect, so much so that all these practices are summed up in a single reference word guanxi, make fairs and events crossroads of not only commercial but also human exchanges. It is better to structure the calendar precisely, therefore, and include these activities within the marketing plan, foreseeing specific communication and advertising actions.
The China International Import Expo, a necessary hub
Among the events, it is worth focusing on the China International Import Expo – CIIE, the most important fair for foreign producers aiming to sell to Chinese companies: raw materials, first and foremost, but also industrial and IT products, food & beverage, medical and retail products, as well as services dedicated to companies.
The usual venue in Shanghai, from November 5 to 10, 2024, will host thousands of exhibitors from over 100 countries and attract the most important Chinese companies in search of collaborators and suppliers, in various sectors.
It is possible to participate as simple professional visitors or as exhibitors, securing one of the stands: the selection process is automated and requires careful preparation.
CIIE is the B2B event par excellence in China, a space designed for the comparison between internal demand and external supply, essential for understanding the dynamics of one of the most important markets in the world and for presenting oneself to a complex and seemingly impenetrable economic-cultural context.
A network of local professionals
Another tool useful for strengthening the B2B network is Maimai, which with over 110 million active users every month is the top professional social network in China. The channel allows inserting CVs and sharing anonymous news about one’s workplace and sector trends, making it an excellent source of market updates and understanding for B2B companies.
Gaining experience on-site: the importance of Retex’s learning expeditions
The perfect bridge between the physical and digital worlds, between strategic competence and understanding of the socio-cultural context, for Italian companies that want to secure a spot in the Chinese B2B market, is an on-site experience that allows them to firsthand experience the Chinese business-to-business reality and what it means to do business under the Great Wall.
Retex organizes real learning expeditions aimed at studying the market, understanding the organization and needs of potential partners, training at a strategic level with dedicated professionals, to define an action plan that involves physical and digital channels useful for pursuing success in the Chinese B2B world.
Maximizing reputation, between digital tools and physical network
Seizing the opportunities of the Chinese business-to-business market means playing strategically on multiple fronts, with perfect coordination between physical channels (fairs, events, travels, and face-to-face relationships) and the online world (website, social networks, complex ecosystems like WeChat).
The common goal of all activities, managed optimally and always consistent from a communicative point of view, is to maximize brand reputation, making it reliable, attractive, and interesting for an audience very different from the Italian and European ones, laying the foundation for close, lasting, and fruitful collaborations.
Doing B2B export in China is possible, with the right strategy and partners.
